Your Right to Know

WASHINGTON — A closer look at some of Mitt Romney’s claims in excerpts of his remarks released
before his speech:

Romney: “To assure every entrepreneur and every job creator that their investments
in America will not vanish as have those in Greece, we will cut the deficit and put America on
track to a balanced budget.”

The facts: Romney has promised to cut $500 billion per year from the federal
budget by 2016 to bring spending below 20 percent of the U.S. economy, and to balance it entirely
by 2020. But he’s vague on how he would do that. He has offered ideas such as repealing President
Barack Obama’s health-care law, which is actually projected to save money overall, and cutting
smaller areas of government spending such as foreign aid and Amtrak subsidies.

Some of his priorities, such as increasing military spending and reversing $716 billion worth of
Obama’s cuts to Medicare, would make the job more difficult. Romney has steered clear of proposals
to touch Medicare and Social Security in the short run, which leaves a relatively limited portion
of the $3.6 trillion federal budget to cut.

He’s also proposed to cut tax rates while ending some deductions and exemptions, but he hasn’t
detailed which ones.

* * *

Romney: “That business we started with 10 people has now grown into a great
American success story.”

The facts: Bain Capital is indeed a success story. But the story of the companies
it invested in is more complicated. Romney mentioned his usual examples of companies that started
or prospered in his career as a venture capitalist — the national Sports Authority and Staples
chains, and Steel Dynamics in Indiana.

A Romney website states, “the businesses Romney helped start while at Bain Capital employ more
than 100,000 people today.” But it doesn’t subtract job losses during his time and doesn’t make
clear that much growth came years after he left.

GS Industries of Georgetown, S.C., was one such company that Bain bought in the mid-1990s. In
2001, the steel mill filed for bankruptcy and was tied up in lawsuits from residents alleging the
plant polluted their historic town. Romney blamed the bankruptcy on Chinese dumping cheap steel on
the U.S., although Bain ultimately realized more than $30 million on its investment.

At another Bain-owned South Carolina company, the Holson Burnes Group Inc. in Gaffney, about 150
workers lost their jobs as some plant operations were sent up north and later overseas. By 2004, a
prospectus showed Bain receiving a $33.8 million valuation on its initial investment.

Steel Dynamics quickly became a leader in the production of flat-rolled steel, expanding to
other locations in the U.S. and Mexico, reaping $8 billion in sales in 2011. Bain’s investment paid
off, and when Bain cashed out in 1999, it left with an 82 percent rate of return on its $18 million
investment.

But the steel mill received $37 million in state and local tax incentives to build in Indiana,
and residents were subject to a special income-tax levy to support the project. That does not fit
well with the Republican convention’s “We built it” mantra that business, not government, grows
jobs.

* * *

Romney: “I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs. It has five steps.”

The facts: Economic forecasters are divided on his ability to deliver. He’d have
to nearly double the pace of job growth lately. That’s conceivable in a healthy economy. Moody’s
Analytics expects nearly that many jobs to return over the next four years no matter who occupies
the White House. Other analysts have questioned Romney’s rosy job promises.

Romney’s steps include deficit cuts that he has not spelled out, and a march toward energy
independence that past presidents have promised but not delivered.

* * *

Romney: “President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the
planet.”

The facts: Really? Yes, pretty much.

In a June 2008 speech, Obama said generations from now, “we will be able to look back and tell
our children that … this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet
began to heal.”

Obama backed a climate-change bill that passed the House in 2009. A similar bill died in the
Senate in 2010. Opinion is mixed whether he worked hard to get it passed.